Info/images of the Takarazuka Revue, Japanese
all-female theatre troupes that perform musicals.

~ INTRODUCTION TO Revue ~

Would you like to
learn about Takarazuka? ^_^

The Takarazuka
Kagekidan (Takarazuka Girls Opera Group, officially
translated as Takarazuka Revue Company) is made up of 5
troupes with over 80 members in each. These are called Hana,
Tsuki, Hoshi, Yuki, and Sora (Flower, Moon, Star, Snow, and
Cosmos). Each troupe has a top star who leads in most
productions of that troupe, playing the main male role.
There is also a top star playing the main female roles. The
rest of the cast is the chorus, each member having a grade
(as in school). This grade number tells how many years since
her debut. The actresses are called Takarasiennes.

Each troupe performs
2 shows a year at the Dai Geikijou (Grand Theatre) in
Takarazuka city, 1 show at the Tokyo Takarazuka Gekijou, and
other performances taking place at the Takarazuka Bow Hall,
Theatre Drama City, Asakusa ACT Theatre,and Tokyo Seinen Kan
(Tokyo Youth Hall). The Revue also goes abroad to perform.
They've been to North and South America, Europe, and
Asia.

So what do I like
about it so much? Mosty the amazing acting talent. The
players of men's roles are very skilled in what they do....
for moments one forgets they're not really men. In the
Japanese language men and women have different styles of
speech from each other. I've been a fan of anime and manga
(Japanese animation and comics) for a number of years and
have been exposed to the Japanese ways of talking. The
Takarazuka actresses are really great at it! Every movement
by these actresses has thought put into it so that they give
an image of how men really are. It's very fun to watch
them.

Add to this the
music and dancing. The Revue has gifted choreographers who
create the dances, some unlike any I've ever seen before.
After retiring from a troupe, some of the Takarasiennes
become choreographers themselves, or take other places in
the management of the company. Each number has a mood and
theme. Oftentimes the performers dance down the giant
staircase in colorful costumes, amid shining lights on each
step, colored spotlights, and a big elaborate set. The songs
come in all varieties from love ballads to rock to slow jazz
to Broadway showtunes to traditional Japanese....

The Takarazuka Revue
Company was founded in 1914 by Kobayashi Ichizo, president
of Hankyu Railways Corporation, in order to attract more
people to using the rail line to Takarazuka, a city known
for its hot springs. He built the Grand Theatre in 1924 -
it's connected to Takarazuka Familyland, the Hankyu
amusement park. Kobayashi noticed that people were becoming
more interested in Western, Broadway-style theatre than
traditional Japanese types such as noh and kabuki. Kobayashi
envisioned an all-female revue combining the traditional and
the new, which would be a novel opposite of the all-male
kabuki.

In order to join,
girls between the ages of 15 and 18 must go through a highly
competitive audition to get into the Takarazuka Ongaku
Gakkou (Music School). It is one of the best performing arts
academies in Japan. Over a thousand girls audition each
year, but only approximately 40-50 make it in! Even after
passing, it's not an easy road.... girls take classes in
singing, acting, dancing (Japanese, ballet, tap, and
modern), music history, theatre theory, etiquette and more
from 9-5 each day, as well as do the daily cleaning of the
dorms and classrooms. Schools in Japan do not have school
janitors; cleaning is the students' work. At this school,
however, vacuum cleaners and other electrical appliances are
not allowed - in order to build character, humility, and
stamina!

After 1 year at the
school each student becomes either an otokoyaku (player of
men's roles) or musumeyaku (player of women's roles). The
starring otokoyaku are by far the most popular of the
actresses in the Revue, so there is never enough spaces for
all of the girls who would like to be otokoyaku. The
decision is based on height, physique, voice, etc.

The students now
divide into two seperate classes; the otokoyaku study how to
act like, talk like, and move like men, while the musumeyaku
train in being a strong and graceful feminine counter to the
male roles. The students learn techniques that signify
gender, including stylized movements, gestures, and speech
patterns. After their training is complete the students will
join one of the troupes.

Nearly all of the
fans of Takarazuka are jr. high& high school girls and
middle-aged women. A lot of them enjoy the portrayal of pure
romance, rather than a physical attraction between a man and
woman. Many of the fans adore the Takarasiennes and will
stand outside of the theatre after a show, waiting to get a
glimpse of their favorite stars on their way home, and maybe
a photo or autograph. There are fan clubs, 3 official
magazines, as well as lots of neat collectibles to buy. I
think it's so cool that theatre can have such fandom in
Japan. In the U.S. I don't see excited fans of musical
performers like those of movie/TV actors or popular singers.
I wonder why this is, since musical performers can sing,
dance, act, and have stage presence! How talented to be able
to do all of that! ^_^

Some people's first
impression of an all-female theatre that performs romance
stories is that they must all be gay. The Takarazuka
organization has said that this isn't the case. The stars
often appear on TV and radio programs, and they generally
don't speak or act like men offstage. The musicals are not
about gay characters, nor do fans think of them as such.
It's just women acting in male roles. =) As one of my
friends said, "Otokoyaku are men on stage and women off it -
there is no ambiguity between the two positions. To see them
as ambiguous in gender undervalues their art." The musical
FAKE
LOVE
contains an eccentric drunk father, an old emotional man
with white beard, and a godfather of the mafia who's sickly
and needs a breathing apparatus! Just as the stars are
acting these parts, so do they act in every other
role.

Takarazuka has been
stereotyped as pure and innocent in acccordance with its
motto. A rule formed by Kobayashi when he started the Revue
is that the actresses must be unmarried and virgins while in
the company. Kobayashi wanted for parents of the Music
School students to not have to worry about their daughters.
Performances are considered wholesome family
entertainment.

Before leaving for
Japan I read parts of 2 books about Takarazuka and I felt
that they contradict each other. In one book the author says
she felt "the auditorium sizzle with eroticized energy",
while the other book describes that viewers of the show
abroad found Takarazuka to be "disappointingly sexless". My
view on it now is that Takarazuka shows are about the same
in terms of sensual content as a Western musical, though
from time to time there will be a scene that I wouldn't take
a child to see. An interesting thing about Takarazuka is
that the actresses do not kiss on stage in full view. They
turn around so their faces are not visible to the audience,
or the lights go down. Sometimes it is implied that the
characters make love in the storyline, but similarly the
lights go down or the characters sweep across the stage into
a bedroom and the scene changes. That part of the story is
not actually shown at all.

To become a top star
means working one's way up through the company. Popularity
won't always let an actress shoot to the top, though a large
fan following and how much the company likes her can let her
jump past others who have been in the troupe longer.
Sometimes an actress must switch troupes. Recently, upon
reaching third star, 10 of the actresses were automatically
placed into the Senka (Specialty Course) troupe. This troupe
was originally only for members above the age of 40, but now
includes some of these secondary and third stars as well.
Members of Senka perform in the productions of any other
troupe, switching from one performance to another. For
example, a Senka Takarasienne can perform in a Flower Troupe
show, and next in a Star Troupe show, and so on. The main
difference of this system from the old way is that an
actress may not simply rise from third to second to top star
in one troupe. The most-loved Senka star might reach top
when a top star retires, regardless of which troupe she was
previously a member. Takarazuka is currently in a time of
transition; the role of Senka stars is not yet
defined.

A top star stays at
the top until she retires, and then a Senka star or other
secondary star moves up. When an actress is the main star of
her troupe, she must maintain her popularity and
likeableness. Takarazuka isn't meant to be a permanent
career. Most of the recent top stars have retired after 2-3
years in the top position, often while in their 30s. After a
star retires she might go on to a career in movies, TV
dramas, singing, voice acting, or the like; open her own
club which will be frequented by her devoted fans; or get
married and fade into obscurity as a housewife - whatever
she wants to do.

Information taken from
"Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Cuture in Modern
Japan" by Jennifer Robertson, "The Encyclopedia of Japanese
Pop Culture" by Mark Shilling, and my own experience
attending the Revue in Japan and watching
performances/documentaries on video.

A large thank you goes out to
Oona and Yuki for sending me corrections. Hontou ni arigatou
gozaimasu! ^-^